I’ve been away from quoting for far too long again, so I’m choosing this Groundhog’s Day to get back to business.

In honor of the “holiday,” the fact that our buddy Punxsutawney Phil (who is of course an official, licensed meteorologist) saw his shadow and all the “false alarm” snow and ice storms that have graced my city (and others) in the past couple weeks, I bring you some quotes about temperate-zone winter in all its frigid glory.

“I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says ‘Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.'”— Lewis Carroll (from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass)

“I love to watch the fine mist of the night come on,/The windows and the stars illumined, one by one,/The rivers of dark smoke pour upward lazily,/And the moon rise and turn them silver. I shall see/The springs, the summers, and the autumns slowly pass;/And when old Winter puts his blank face to the glass,/I shall close all my shutters, pull the curtains tight,/And build me stately palaces by candlelight.”— Charles Baudelaire (from Les Fleurs du Mal)

“March came in that winter like the meekest and mildest of lambs, bringing days that were crisp and golden and tingling, each followed by a frosty pink twilight which gradually lost itself in an elfland of moonshine.”— L.M. Montgomery (from Anne of the Island)

This week, I’m going for the obvious theme with Monday’s quotes. Last year for Thanksgiving week, I offered up some quotes about gratitude, so I suppose this post isn’t really that much different. This past year has been beyond challenging for me, full of all sorts of difficult, heartbreaking events, negativity and battles (and even some wars) of all varieties. But it has also been brimming with moments of absolute love, surprises and delight.

I don’t necessarily see January 1 as the true “new year.” For me, the year turns over the week of Thanksgiving, when I always take a few minutes to take stock and appreciate the love, joy and hope that is always in my life, even if I can’t always actively feel it. I really do feel so grateful, especially for those few, rare favorite kindreds that help keep me standing. (So, if I have been remiss and have not said thank you in a while, this one’s for you.)

“Gratitude is an overflow of the pleasure filling your soul.”— Raheel Farooq

“And thank you for saying all of that, and for loving me, for you haven’t gone unloved, or unadmired, yourself.”— V.C. Andrews (from Flowers in the Attic)

“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”— Marcel Proust

Like anyone else that is worth knowing on the planet, I am a huge animal lover. Ever since getting my first goldfish, Goldie pre-five-years old, I have known I never wanted to be without dogs, hermit crabs, turtles, guinea pigs, bearded dragons, school of tropical fish or the myriad other animals that have since been pets of mine, nor do I ever want the world to lose any of its wilder, undomesticated creatures. Goldie eventually mysteriously turned black and became known as Midnight, and a string of dogs and other pets wandered into our lives and nestled into our hearts. (And as I think of the miraculous Goldie transformation with my adult brain now, I sort of wonder if Goldie was flushed to heaven, and my parents just pretended she had undergone a freak-of-nature-style metamorphosis.)

Animals have also been on my mind as I’ve been co-working a bit on a new business venture this week. (Stay tuned for that cat to be let out of the bag in the coming months). While it was actually inspired by an inside joke, the fact that the name of the company is animal themed is not at all surprising. So, as I think about animals, here are some quotes about them that I particularly enjoy.

“Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.”— Groucho Marx (from The Essential Groucho: Writings For By And About Groucho Marx)

“Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in.” — Mark Twain

“All his life he tried to be a good person. Many times, however, he failed. For after all, he was only human. He wasn’t a dog.”— Charles M. Schulz

“If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans.”— James Herriot (from All Creatures Great and Small)

In trying to think of a quotes topic for this week, I turned to some little getaway plans that have been in the works for a few months now. Because life has been more than a little busy for a while now, I haven’t had a great deal of time to take a proper vacation. In fact, I haven’t left this fair city for anything but family functions, weddings, work events, etc. since 2002, and I decided recently that this horrible practice needs to stop, so I have my heart set on a little mini break in Atlantic City.

While I am not much of a gambler in the literal casino sense, I have been known to gamble pretty big in my life and take some uncomfortable and ultimately rewarding risks. Of course, there have been some not-so-successful risks taken as well, but we shall not speak of those! The one time I gambled away my “fortune” (which was at the time $20) in Atlantic City was about ten years ago. A lucky pull of a slot machine arm netted me all-new furniture for my apartment. (Don’t get too excited though: It was courtesy of IKEA and thus had to be thrown away only a couple years later.) And this time, I have resolved to play games geared towards responsible adults … like poker. (I need a new couch and some better bookshelves!)

With that said, I bring you some fine quotes about gambling.

“Bond didn’t defend the practice. He simply maintained that the more effort and ingenuity you put into gambling, the more you took out.”— Ian Fleming (from Casino Royale)

“Live as a poker gambler, read others of their eyes, don’t make your life out of reading people’s faces, give others a false sense of you. Always trust your sense and take your risk.”— Ayman Rahhal

“Don’t listen to the malicious comments of those friends who, never taking any risks themselves, can only see other people’s failures.”— Paulo Coelho (from Eleven Minutes)

“That’s the good part of dying; when you’ve nothing to lose, you run any risk you want.”— Ray Bradbury (from Fahrenheit 451)

I’m keeping this edition of Happy Monday Quotes pretty light, mostly in the interest of getting back on track with these. Also, I have been thinking about cake and looking up cake recipes a lot lately, because there are some special birthday goings-on afoot and also, because I just like cake. Who doesn’t?

Now that I have that out in the open, here are some quotes about cake, delicious cake.

“Cake for later, cake as a way of life.”— Laini Taylor (from Dreams of Gods & Monsters)

“But how will I eat cake if my head is over there, and my hands are over here?”— Marie Antoinette

“Out of love I made you a cake. Also out of milk, eggs, flour, sugar, and vanilla.”— Jarod Kintz (from The Days of Yay are Here! Wake Me Up When They’re Over)

“Love is the cake under the icing. The immature lick it clean and throw the rest away; adults scrape off the top and eat it dry.”— Bauvard (from Some Inspiration for the Overenthusiastic)

I just realized today that I’ve been away for a while, so I thought some updates were in order. After a challenging (but ultimately rewarding) year so far, as we approach the season of thanks, I realize there are a lot of happenings I should announce. I am truly grateful!

First and foremost, I have a huge announcement. After many months, two business partners of mine — Rick Goetz and Marty Maidenberg — and I have teamed up to re-launch the site formerly known as MusicianCoaching.com as a new boutique marketing services company called Music Consultant. I am so happy to be working with these two excellent, experienced fellas, and glad we are able to bring our strengths together in a way that I believe will really help artists and creative companies build more sustainable careers and continue to make a living doing what they love. Plus, I get to do more of what I love for others and connect with even more outstanding music! We went live a couple weeks ago and are now in full swing. If you are in need of any of the many services we have to offer, please do reach out!

I am also doing some really rewarding work with my clients right now. In the past few months alone, I’ve had the pleasure of being the editor on two helpful guides/proper self-help books about finding success in music and the Arts, one of which has already been published (check it out on Amazon), the other which is coming out soon. I’ve also watched several artists I work with release a smorgasbord of delightful albums and music videos. I’m thrilled to be a part of so many different projects!

For a little taste, here’s a lovely retro video of a classic song released by my very-talented client, Oya (“Spirit of Oya”), who also directed and produced it herself. “Accentuate the Positive” indeed!

I’m also hoping to run another “press pack special” for the holidays for artists and musicians looking to update bios and photos. I’ll let you know!

And on a personal note, I am putting major effort into finishing a book of essays, which I hope will be all together by year’s end. (I don’t want to make that sound like too much of an afterthought — I’m actually really excited about it!) Writing and playing more music is also on the docket, with a new musical project in the works.

More updates coming soon! Please take the above as just highlights jotted down by a person who is joyfully busy!

I have been thinking a lot about the concept of flavor lately — not just in terms of taste, but in terms of how the world can ignite all the senses, often simultaneously. We would miss so much poignant feeling if we only had experiences with our eyes, ears, tongue, nose or fingertips. Those electrified experiences that engage our entire beings at once are the very sweetest.

Here are a few quotes about flavor and its many colors.

“My love is meatloaf flavored. I just wish my meatloaf was also meatloaf flavored. ”— Dora J. Arod (from Love quotes for the ageless. And the ageless sages.)

“So he tasted the deep pain that is reserved only for the strong, just as he had tasted for a little while the deep happiness.”— F. Scott Fitzgerald (from All the Sad Young Men)

“I’m hungry for a juicy life. I lean out my window at night and I can taste it out there, just waiting for me.”— Brigid Lowry (from Guitar Highway Rose)

“But, when nothing subsists of an old past, after the death of people, after the destruction of things, alone, frailer but more enduring, more immaterial, more persistent, more faithful, smell and taste still remain for a long time, like souls, remembering, waiting, hoping, on the ruin of all the rest, bearing without giving way, on their almost impalpable droplet, the immense edifice of memory.”— Marcel Proust (from Swann’s Way)

It was a pretty gorgeous weekend weather wise (albeit a bit balmy), which led to plenty of outdoor grilling, walking and lounging. Today, we’re experiencing ark-building levels of precipitation, a reminder that it is still spring. Because summer’s prequel is close to its closing credits, I figured I might honor one of its signature qualities: glorious yet melancholy, life-giving, fresh-start-creating rain.

“Love like rain, can nourish from above, drenching couples with a soaking joy. But sometimes under the angry heat of life, love dries on the surface and must nourish from below, tending to its roots keeping itself alive.”— Paulo Coelho (from By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept)

“I went to bed and woke in the middle of the night thinking I heard someone cry, thinking I myself was weeping, and I felt my face and it was dry.

Then I looked at the window and thought: Why, yes, it’s just the rain, the rain, always the rain, and turned over, sadder still, and fumbled about for my dripping sleep and tried to slip it back on.”— Ray Bradbury (from Green Shadows, White Whale: A Novel of Ray Bradbury’s Adventures Making Moby Dick with John Huston in Ireland)

“Are the days of winter sunshine just as sad for you, too? When it is misty, in the evenings, and I am out walking by myself, it seems to me that the rain is falling through my heart and causing it to crumble into ruins.”— Gustave Flaubert

“The sun did not shine. It was too wet to play. So we sat in the house. All that cold, cold, wet day.”— Dr. Seuss (from The Cat in the Hat)

The next 24 hours will be steeped in anticipation, because, tomorrow night I will be going on a little formal boating adventure, having secured two tickets to a four-course dinner cruise aboard a yacht, with cocktails and music (and dancing … and plenty of romance I presume … but, let’s hope no pirates, even though I’d be fine with a reasonable amount of swashbuckling)!

I don’t mean to oversell this thing, but it’s going to be kind of an all-out affair with some pretty-close-to-formal attire. (I will actually be wearing what some might call a “gown,” even though it’s technically made of jersey material — don’t take away my comfort!) I may be making way too big a deal out of it, but, if we can’t get excited about the little things, what’s left?

In preparation for my trip, here are some delightful quotes about “the sea” and all its mysterious magic.

“We need the tonic of wildness…At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable, that land and sea be indefinitely wild, unsurveyed and unfathomed by us because unfathomable. We can never have enough of nature.”— Henry David Thoreau (from Walden: Or, Life in the Woods)

“’Look at that sea, girls–all silver and shadow and vision of things not seen. We couldn’t enjoy its loveliness any more if we had millions of dollars and ropes of diamonds.’”— L.M. Montgomery (from Anne of Green Gables)

“My soul is full of longing/for the secret of the sea,/and the heart of the great ocean/sends a thrilling pulse through me.”— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“And now I know that we must lift the sail/And catch the winds of destiny/Wherever they drive the boat./To put meaning in one’s life may end in madness,/But life without meaning is the torture/Of restlessness and vague desire—/It is a boat longing for the sea and yet afraid.”— Edgar Lee Masters (from “George Gray”)

Once again, I’ve been off this “Happy Monday Quotes” sauce for a while, but I’m back on the wagon!

Today is unusually warm and beautiful, and on my trip back from Brooklyn to my home office computer this morning, I was taking in all the sensory treats (and occasional total madness) of NYC as it once again prepares for the another summer season. The joys of mid-spring, when hints of summer smells, tastes, sights and sounds abound and pique our excitement had me thinking about how much our senses play a part in experiencing the world. I am definitely guilty of not paying attention to how much energy there is in this city, especially in May, once we truly start shedding winter layers and getting even more twitterpated.

Today, I felt unusually joyful about living here — in a city that feeds me a steady diet of intriguing vibrations — so some quotes about “the senses” seem like an appropriate celebration of the delightful now!

“Walking and talking are two very great pleasures, but it is a mistake to combine them. Our own noise blots out the sounds and silences of the outdoor world; and talking leads almost inevitably to smoking, and then farewell to nature as far as one of our senses is concerned. The only friend to walk with is one who so exactly shares your taste for each mood of the countryside that a glance, a halt, or at most a nudge, is enough to assure us that the pleasure is shared.” — C.S. Lewis (from Surprised by Joy)

“Intermittently she caught the gist of his sentences and supplied the rest from her subconscious, as one picks up the striking of a clock in the middle with only the rhythm of the first uncounted strokes lingering in the mind.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald (from Tender is the Night)

“It was then that the ecstasy and the dream began, in which emotion was the matter of the universe, and matter but an adventitious intrusion likely to hinder you from spinning where you wanted to spin.”— Thomas Hardy (from Tess of the d’Urbervilles)

“I have not yet lost a feeling of wonder, and of delight, that this delicate motion should reside in all the things around us, revealing itself only to him who looks for it. I remember, in the winter of our first experiments, just seven years ago, looking on snow with new eyes. There the snow lay around my doorstep — great heaps of protons quietly precessing in the earth’s magnetic field. To see the world for a moment as something rich and strange is the private reward of many a discovery.”— Edward M. Purcell